1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming system including a terminal and a printing device, and, in particular, to such a system having a reprint function.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known in the art to use an image forming system including a terminal and a printing device communicably connected to each other. The terminal such as a server or a personal computer is provided with a transmission portion for transmitting print data to the printing device. The printing device receives the print data transmitted from the terminal and performs a print operation.
With such an image forming system, if it becomes necessary to produce the same print after the printing has ended, the application software within the terminal must be launched again and a reprint instruction must be executed. In other words, the user has to go through the tiresome procedure again of starting up the application software again, opening the file to be printed, then specifying the necessary pages.
One solution for this problem is proposed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-177186. With this solution, the user is asked whether or not reprinting may become necessary when the initial print instruction is executed and, if the answer is affirmative, the print data transmitted to the printing device is stored in a storage device provided in the terminal. If a reprint instruction is input by the user, the print data stored in the storage device is transferred to the printing device so that the reprinting can be done.
However, the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-177186 requires the user to specify whether or not reprinting may need to be performed, that is, whether it is necessary or unnecessary to store the print data, every time the initial print execution instruction is executed, which is a situation that few users would consider convenient.